All-Japanese Women's Doubles final comes down to dramatic finish

13 Nov 2016

Spectators were treated to a tantalising Women's Doubles final after Honoka Hashimoto and Hitomi Sato were crowned champions in dramatic circumstances on day five of the 2016 ITTF World Tour Hybiome Austrian Open, 13th November.

Hashimoto and Sato had shown their potential as a Doubles pairing at the 2016 Belarus Open in September where they picked up the trophy, and now a couple of months later the Japanese duo were able to impress in Linz with an exemplary performance against fellow compatriots Hina Hayata and Miyu Kato (8-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 16-14).

Both pairings had faced little difficulty on their passage to the final – dropping just two games each in the prior rounds – and so there was an expectancy to see a tight encounter between the two Japanese teams. Come the conclusion of the match, the crowd was left in awe at the spectacular battle that had unfolded in front of their eyes.

All five of the games in the final were close and neither pair was able to establish any sort of substantial lead on the scoreboard.

Hayata and Kato actually took the early advantage with the duo’s capture of game one, but in a reverse outcome the second end fell to Hashimoto and Sato to bring the tie all square.

Again Hayata and Kato managed to pull themselves ahead in the third game but – just as seen before – the opposing partnership of Hahsimoto and Sato refused to give in and their victory in game four was the fourth straight game to be won by a three point difference.

The final was going down to a deciding game and after setting the early pace in the game Hayata and Kato held four match points with a 6-10 lead, but a fantastic effort saw Hashimoto and Sato not only manage to claw themselves back into the fifth game but also go on to seal the win in deuce (8-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, 16-14).